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October 03, 2013

(+++) COMFORTABLY VEGAN

The Cheesy Vegan: More Than 125
Plant-Based Recipes for Indulging in the World’s Ultimate Comfort Food. By
John Schlimm. Da Capo. $19.99.

Remember The Farmer in the Dell? That’s the kids’
rhyme with the line, “The cheese stands alone.” And so it does, for many
people: cheese is delicious on its own as well as being a wonderful complement
to everything from elegant dishes to French fried potatoes, hamburgers and
macaroni. But cheese is an animal product and therefore a problem for vegans,
whose philosophical commitment to their lifestyle has left them striving to
accept tofu, seitan (wheat gluten) and other cheese substitutes, or led them to
eat vegan cheese that has neither the flavor nor the mouth feel of the real
thing.

John Schlimm’s The Cheesy Vegan intends to do something
about that. Schlimm may be exaggerating in calling cheese “the world’s ultimate
comfort food” – has he somehow missed out on chocolate? – but certainly cheese
is a comfort food, and also a staple
of many people’s diet and an excellent addition to the food choices of many
more.

Schlimm’s basic
recommendation is that vegans make their own cheeses, which he describes as
“versatile and fun to make.” These are not going to be tempting to non-vegans,
and many of the ingredients will not be ones that non-vegans are familiar with,
but this book is not intended to convert people to a vegan lifestyle, as many
vegan-focused books are – it is aimed at helping those who are already
committed to living as vegans enjoy a type of food that they would not
otherwise be able to eat. So you will find a cheddar recipe here that uses agar
powder or flakes, cashews and pimientos; a mozzarella one that includes rolled
oats and tahini; a brie recipe using “crumbled firm silken tofu,” agar powder
and smooth tahini; a Swiss one calling for cashews, almond slivers, soy milk
and miso; and so on. These are really hands-on recipes, and sometimes hands-in
ones: “Using your hands, crumble the tofu into a medium-size bowl. Continue
mixing with your hands until the tofu achieves the texture of large-curd
cottage cheese.” (This is from the cottage-cheese recipe.)

Schlimm is well aware that
the absence of cheese can be an issue for vegans and would-be vegans: “The mere
mention of cream cheese sends the imagination in so many delicious directions
at once, from breakfast straight through to that midnight snack,” he writes at
one point. But he argues that his cheese-creation recipes will give vegans
substitutes that will be more acceptable to them than what they have been able
to eat before. And of course the book is not entirely about making your own
cheese – most of it is actually filled with recipes for using various vegan cheeses
in a wide variety of ways. Indeed, cheese creation gets only one of the 10
chapters here, the other nine being devoted to “Breakfast & Brunch,”
“Sides,” “Sandwiches,” “Appetizers & Snacks,” and so forth. There is even a
“Mac ’n’ Cheese” chapter with seven recipes (one featuring ground cashews and
truffle oil, another called “Parmesan-Cheddar-Swiss Skillet Macaroni”). And
yes, there is a “Cheesecake” chapter as well, including creations that are
unlikely to appease the sweet tooth of non-vegans but that certainly sound
tempting within the vegan context: “Pecan-Crusted Cheesecake Bars” and “White
Chocolate Cheesecake Petit Fours,” for example.

Vegan eating is a choice
that limited numbers of people make, generally for sociopolitical and
philosophical rather than dietary reasons – although there are plenty who argue
for it on health grounds as well. To non-vegans, the vegan form of sustenance
looks like a real sacrifice, and apparently some vegans feel that way as well,
which is why there are books such as The
Cheesy Vegan. The underlying idea of Schlimm’s book, and others of the same
type, is that vegans can fulfill whatever rationale they have for the way they
eat and live without giving up the flavors and food experiences that non-vegans
enjoy. The proposition is arguable, but certainly books like Schlimm’s make a
good argument for it when it comes to specific types of foods and food groups.